Cleaning and antimist film applying article



Patented Nov. 9, 1943 CLEANING AND ANTIMIST FILM. APPLYING ARTI LE 7Lester L. Jones, Oradell, N. J.

i No Drawing. Application September 8, 1939,

Serial No. 293,959

2Claims. (01. 15-209} This invention relates to an article for cleaningand applying an anti-mist film to glass surfaces or the like. Theinvention relates more particularlyto such an article serviceable forcleaning polished surfaces to a highly transparent or per-' fectlyreflective condition and at the same time to make such surfaces highlyresistant to the formation of misting films which tend to mar theirpolished transparency or reflectivity.

Cleaning and anti-mist treatment of polished surfaces has been hithertoaccomplished by first applying a smear of anti-filming or anti-mistingcompound upon the surface, sometimes by spraying and other times byrubbing, and then wiping the smear clean with fresh rags or other ab-This is time wasting and sorbent materials. inconvenient, in that itinvolves two separate operations, and also because it requires aplurality of cleaning elements. In view of this inconvenience, in mostcases, people wait until vision has become dangerously obscured before 1wiping the glass clean.

and the like, and in fact, any polished surface s of a transparent orreflective nature the function of which is directly impaired by lack ofcleanliness and by misting films formed thereon.

I have found that a flexible carrier such as a soft tissue paper orcloth may be combined with an anti-mist material in such a way that thecleaning operation and the anti-mist film applying operation may beaccomplished at one and the same time and in a very simple and facilemanner. This is done by combining the flexible carrier with theanti-mist material so that the anti-mist material is held on the carrierin such a way as to allow transfer of the said material to the polishedsurface such as glass and the like, to produce a thin, anti-mist filmthereon at the same time and while the glass surface is cleaned by thecarrier. I have also found that it is essential to apply the anti-mistmaterial to the carrier in a predetermined quantity large enough inamount to leave on the cleaned surface a thin, anti-mist film, yetinsufficient in amount to interfere in the flrst place with the cleaningeffect of the carrier, or in the second place, to leave upon thecleansed surface any visiblesmear.

When the flexible carrier is thus suitably processed and contains theworkable amount of antimist material, the carrier may be used as anordinary piece of cleansing tissue or cloth is used and will functionfor simultaneously cleansing the polished surface and applying thereto athin, invisible anti-mist film.

The flexible carrier which is preferably employed is a porous materialsuch as a soft tissue paper or cloth, which is adapted for use in wipingand cleaning polished surfaces such as glass or the like. The carriershould be free from any abrasive material which would scratch or mar thepolished surface, and should also be free of any detachable particleswhich would tend to deposit themselves and remain on the polishedsurface after a wiping or cleansing operation. The carrier shouldpreferably be fine textured, soft and porous in order to pick up foreignmatter and absorb any moisture and grease which may be on the surface tobe wiped, and also so that itrmay properly receive and have depositedthereon the anti-mist chemical with which it is treated to produce theproduct of the present invention.

This soft tissue paper or cloth flexible barrier is treated with theanti-mist chemical. Such chemicals are well known; they comprise watersoluble and foaming materials, such as elm-bark, acacia, ordinary soapand generally most stearates, oleates, palmitates, etc. The treatment ismade in any of a number of ways as is set forth in the exampleshereinafter given. I

have found that the desired results can only be obtained bythecombination of the flexible carrier with an extremely minute andgenerally critical amount of the anti-mist chemical. If too much of theanti-mist chemical is employed, there results on the polished surface avisible film or smear that continued rubbing will not satisfactorilyremove. Furthermore, the use of too much of the anti-mist chemical has atendency to interfere with the cleansing function of the flexiblecarrier. On the other hand, if an insufficient amount of the anti-mistchemical is used on the carrier, although the polished surface maybewiped clean, no anti-misting fllm will be formed; the anti-mistmaterial is, therefore, deposited on the carrier in a predeterminedquantity large enough in amount to leave on the clean surface the thin,anti-mist film desired. While the amount of the anti-mist chemicalapplied is generally critical, it is dependent upon to produce theproper combination of the carrier and the anti-mist material, and thatin both a uniform deposit of the chemical per unit area of the wipingsurface may be effected.

Impregnation method.-The anti-mist material may be applied to thecarrier by impregnation. This is accomplished by spraying or dipping thecarrier with a fairly concentrated water solution of the chemical. Witha pure fairly dry soap a concentration of about eight per cent (8%) byweight is convenient. The application should be such as to result in theeven distribution of dry soap in the tissue paper carrier, so that thepaper contains about seven per cent (7%) of soap by weight. This amountmay also be defined volumetrically, as thinner and lighter papersrequire less weight of soap per unit area. The applied amount isdependent upon the kind of soap used. I have found that if impregnationis attempted with water-washed pieces of soap, about three times as muchsoap must be applied in order to obtain the desired effect. It wouldappear that these water-washed pieces must have had some of the mostactive anti-mist components bleached out. Furthermore, I have found thatthe chemical composition of the soap will also determine its optimumamount; for example, if a tissue be impregnated with pure sodiumstearate, only one-half of one per cent of soap by weight is required.Furthermore, it has been found that an important advantage of usingsodium stearate in such small amounts is that even if several times theamount of stearate necessary to form a film is used, it still is such asmall amount that the excess does not form a smear. This lis significantbecause it allows a very desirable leeway in the case of quantitymanufacture.

Coating method.-Another way of preparation is by surfacing or coatingthe tissue with an extremely fine layer of the chemical. This is, gen-.erally speaking, more economical of the chemical, for I have found thatslightly less than onethird milligram of dry soap per square inch perside of carrier is required. An advantage of the surfacing method isthat for some uses, such as spectacle lens cleaning, only one side ofthe carrier need be coated, it being preferable to surface only one sidein order that the fingers of the user be not soiled or imparted with agreasy film. It should be noted, in this respect, that with clean newsoap, the undesirable effects of coating both sides of the paper areminimized greatly, because the amount of soap used is decreased.Further, when sodium stearate is used the necessity for coating only oneside is greatly diminished. In

order to compare the amount of soap used in this process with the amountof soap used in the impregnation process, it is well to keep in mindthat suitable tissues will weigh about 25 milligrams per square inch andtherefore will contain about 1.75 milligrams of soap per square inch oftissue after impregnation.

It is important that the chemical be evenly distributed over the surfaceof the wiping element in order that it may be evenly applied to thesurface to be wiped. I have found that a preferred way of accomplishingthis is to permit lumps of soap to lightly tumble against a softsurfaced roller adapted to pick up a fairly uniform layer of soap film.This film may be transferred in predetermined amount by rotating theroller against the tissue carrier passing thereover. Regulating theamount of soap transferred may be accurately accomplished by varying therelative speeds of the roller and tissue and the pressure of contact.

I have found it desirable to use a compound of sodium stearate andpotassium oleate .as the anti-mist chemical for certain purposes. Insome applications of the use of'sodium stearate, particularly if toomuch is applied to the tissue carrier and especially after the tissuecarrier is crumpled, there is a tendency of the anti-mist chemical toflake off and to deposit as a powder on the wiped surface. I have foundthat this objection may be obviated if one-half as much of potassiumoleate is added to the sodium stearate. This anti-mist compound has thefurther advantage that the amount used is not as critical as when sodiumstearate is used alone and, consequently, there is greater leeway in themanufacturing method. The addition of potassium oleate also diminishesthe jelling tendency of the soap and, consequently, makes for easierpreparation.

The cleaning and anti-mist film applying article of the presentinvention may be prepared in the form of different packages and ofappropriate sizes. For a vest pocket size and for personal use, theprocessed tissue carriers may be put up in stacked looseleaf form or inbook form.

Such a package may be readily carried in the consumer's pocket and thetissues may be individually stripped from the package as required foruse. For household and automobile use, larger packages may be made withthe individual tissues or fabric carriers stacked or interleaved.

The method of making and using the cleaning and anti-mist film applyingarticles of the present invention will, in the main, be fully apparentfrom .the above detailed description. The fiexible carrier may bereadily processed either by the impregnation or coating method, andsuitable sheet sizes thereof may be appropriately arranged in packagesmade most convenient for the particular intended use. The processedcarrier sheets are used singly for each wiping application, and by theuse thereof the polished surface is simultaneously cleansed and coatedwith anti-mist film. With a single wiping application, it is found thatthe treated polished surface will resist the formation thereon ofmoisture films for a substantial period.

It will be apparent that while I have described the product of theinvention and the method of making the same in the ways now found to bepreferred, that many modifications may be made therein without departingfrom the spirit of the invention defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. An article for simultaneously dry cleaning glass surfaces or thelikeand' applying thereto an anti-mist film comprising, a relatively dryflexible carrier of the class of tissue paper effective for dry cleaningand polishing the glass surface, and impregnated with about one-half percent by weight of pure sodium stearate, the sodium stearate beingdistributed in a relatively dry state'over said carrier and beingcritically small in amount to allow transfer of the same glass surfacesor the like and applying thereto an anti-mist film comprising. a tissuepaper carrier eflective for dry cleaning and polishing theglass surface,and a relatively dry anti-mistmaterial distributed over and held by saidcar-. rier, the said tissue paper being of a weight of about 25milligrams per square inch and the said anti-mist material beingdeposited on said carwith the cleaning eflect of the carrier or 1cavingupon the said surface a visible smear.

' L ST R. L. JONES.

